This is basically just a topic for discussion in general about what you think is going on behind near death experiences. Now with lucid dreaming I always say its all to do with the brain, that we dont consciously exist without our brain and therefore our soul/spirit will probably die with us when our body dies, a kind of depressing thought so I like to look at alternatives.

I read some stories that people have "out of body" like experiences when face d in a near death situation. I say near death, but its pretty much a death experience, their brain isnt functioning and yet they are able to somehow experience something. Anyone know much about this topic and how or why this can happen?

"There is theoretical abstraction, and then there is true abstraction."

I watched myself have a motor bike accident when I was about 15. Early morning and a car pulled out of a give way into me and I couldn't avoid hitting it. From a couple of meters away I slipped out of my body and watched happen. I was floating a little up in the air and to the side and seen the complete accident and only came back when my arm smashed into the windscreen. There was a displaced sense of time as it felt longer that it really was. Lucky that all I got was a broken arm.

How, what and why I dont know.

Who are you I asked, the reply "dont be silly, we are your daughers" many years before they were born

Yes, a displaced sense of time. I had one myself once and to me it still is a state of consciousness not that dissimilar to lucid dreaming. We can't really pinpoint the time of the experiences to match a non-active brain.

Another thing that we have to take into account is how the stories are being retold by third parties. These stories also tend to be embroidered by the media. There is usually some activity still, even if not immediately measurable.

It has been proposed that the low blood pressure in NDErs cause peculiar bursts of REM activity that manifest to protect consciousness. Basically, they are neither asleep and certainly not unconscious. They are very much awake and it is possible that their sensory input is still active and incorporated into a mental model of the immediate surroundings.

In order to shield consciousness from unbearable physical pain (which could be fatal or somewhat psychologically detrimental), the brain may thrust it into a dream world and we are there for the duration of physical trauma or until things get better. Once the pain drops, just above threshold (and hence why pain and discomfort, although bearable, is sometimes experienced upon "returning to the body"), then people return to normal wakefulness.

We can never say that a person is really brain dead in these experiences. The name "near-death" says it all. You are not dead. Endorphins kick in. The pineal gland and its hallucinogens may also get involved. Even if activity is not detectable, there is still something else going on. Certainly quantum mechanically it is! Anyway, it is not exact science but we shouldn't start jumping and assuming that people are returning from the dead just because it appears that way.

"Empty cognizance of one taste, suffused with knowing, is your unmistaken nature, the uncontrived original state. when not altering what is, allow it to be as it is, and the awakened state is right now spontaneously present."

I have at times driven my car way to fast around corners (just me in the car) as I like the sensation of speed and on a few occasions I truly felt that It might not end well. When I am driving like this my mind is focused and I am in what I call the zone, heightened awareness and on the job. I know the extent of my misjudgment by the tingling that starts in my hands and works it way up my arms and its very similar if not the same as the sensations that I sometimes get just before a WILD transition - I joke that its the spirit getting ready to leave body as it wants to protect itself and leave before its too late.

Who are you I asked, the reply "dont be silly, we are your daughers" many years before they were born

I wasn't as lucky to escape a near-death experience with just a broken arm. I myself got hit by lightning and was in a coma for two days. I couldn't leave the hospital for a week. I was outside on my hammock when a freak storm hit, and I ran for the house. I was struck by lightning and now have a horrible scar.